HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — Seventeen games into his tenure with the Miami Heat, LeBron James was taking abuse from every direction. In those early stages of the 2010-11 season, the Heat were 9-8 and the Big 3 era was off to a shaky start, given the outrageous expectations that accompanied the joining of forces between LeBron, fellow free agent Chris Bosh and incumbent face of the franchise Dwyane Wade.

The Heat rebounded from those early stumbles and made it to The Finals before being taken apart by Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks.

In the aftermath of that ugly finish to their first season, LeBron was quickly cast as the scapegoat (with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra stuck in the mud with him). He flatlined at crunch time in The 2011 Finals. Unlike Wade, he had no championship ring or Finals MVP to fall back on. And Bosh was seen as the third wheel, so there was no way he could be the fall guy in that scenario. So LeBron was left to shoulder that burden, one that ultimately led to back-to-back titles and Finals MVPs.

The roles have been shuffled in LeBron’s latest super-team situation in Cleveland, where he’s the championship veteran with rings and Finals MVPs, playing alongside young All-Stars in Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. Unlike Bosh and James back in 2010, though, the next playoff points Love and Irving score will be their first.

Far be it from me to rain on the attention parade going on in Cleveland, the epicenter of the sports universe with the Cavaliers’ new look and the seemingly never-ending Johnny Manziel news cycle. But what happens if (it’s blasphemy, Cavaliers fans, I know) LeBron and friends don’t win the title in their first season together?

Who is the fall guy this time?

Forget the common sense that should come with a new team with new leadership (coach David Blatt playing the Cleveland edition of Spoelstra’s role). The 2010-11 Heat and the 2014-15 Cavaliers face this similar circumstance: anything short of a title will be viewed as a disappointment by most.

And that means someone has to shoulder the burden of that disappointment the way LeBron (and Spoelstra) did when he went dark for weeks after The 2011 Finals trying to reflect on what had been a whirlwind 11 months.

LeBron should be immune this time around. We know what to expect from him. He has extensive experience playing with other elite superstars. He won’t have to make as many adjustments to his game to be effective. Even with the San Antonio Spurs shredding the Heat in The Finals this year, LeBron (cramps aside) was basically unstoppable. It was his supporting cast, both Wade and Bosh in particular, who didn’t play up to their own lofty standards.

And the Spurs were so good, it might not have made a difference if Wade and Bosh played well or not.

Love and Irving are clearly in the crosshairs this time around, given their lack of playoff experience and the fact that the only time they have shared a locker room with players as good or better than them is during All-Star Weekend and their time with USA Basketball. No one knows how either of them will hold up in the crucible that is the postseason. All of those regular-season highlights are useless if either of them melts down in the playoffs or runs into a matchup they simply cannot win.

Love will have to assume the Stretch 4 role that Bosh played in Miami, where his numbers dipped considerably compared to what he put up as a stand-alone All-Star in Toronto. Irving will have to relinquish some of the facilitating duties and scoring load that he’s had to carry early in his career to make sure his game meshes perfectly with two new elite teammates with higher profiles than his own.

Both Love and Irving will have the luxury of playing with the best player on the planet. But not even LeBron will be able to save them from expectations that are not fulfilled. Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, general manager David Griffin and LeBron have all done their part. The pieces for success at the highest level have been assembled.

The rest is up to Love, Irving and the supporting cast. And if things go awry come playoff time, the scapegoat list will be easy to make!

I’ll be surprise if Cavaliers wins a championship in two years time. The team is basically new with a new coach who will try to figure out the effective way to rotate his players. Spurs is still the team to beat this year. Sorry Cleavland, nothing against you but letting go of two number 1 picks is a disaster.

cavs will improve their defense as season goes on! There are few pieces out there which can do the job! cavs have to focus on team defense which the coach should be well aware of! But if they can score 120 points then defense does not matter! it could be doable with this team! Normally nba teams do not average this high but if any one could do defense wont matter so much! A new way of playing basketball could be on the horizon with european coach in place!
can they really score 120? let us see:
klove:24 points, kyrie-22 ,lebron 25 points,mill-6,derjavo-6,ray-6,marion-6,walters 13,haywood 6
71+24+18=114! they can easily find couple more 3’s from jones and others!

With less offensive pressure lebron also can go berserk for a quarter and half! There could be games where anyone of the big 3 could get to 40!

If the cavs don’t win a championship this season it will be seen as a failure and if the cavs dont win more the two championships that lebron won with heat lebron will be seen as a failure and cavs fans know that. It’s not good enough for lebron to just “come back home” he now has to give cleveland more than what he gave miami for all their “pain and suffering.” Like it or not lebron is and always has been the fall guy.

So let’s say they go to the finals and lose. Instead of worrying about who the “fall guy(s)” should be we turn that focus to the winning team and players. The ones who maybe aren’t always better but were for at least that series. I think lebron is a great player with freakish abilities but shame on any and all of us as true sports, basketball mostly, fans who take more time and energy trying to talk about how someone, or group, should be to blame for losing and not focusing on congratulating those who won.

“anything short of a title will be viewed as a disappointment by most.” Is this author for real??? Even the Heat didn’t win first year together! Sekou and ppl agreeing clearly dont understand basketball or sports in cleveland! If the Cavs won even 1 championship in the next 5 years it would be phenomenal!

…maybe because the East is the weaker conference …………..and IF the Cavs can play some Defense then the Eastern title should be attainable by default ….almost……….Who would be better??……..Chicago?….Atlanta??….NYK???…..Nets????…..Pacers?????…..or some long shot like Charlotte or Washington???? So getting to the Finals would be MUCH easier than winning against the Spurs or another strong West team……just sayin’…………..

Mike Miller and James Jones and Ray Allen all 3 provide the same function?? where is the defensive stoppers on this team who play a wing position… besides Lebron (which it shouldn’t be his sole duty full-time) . Battier played solid defense in Miami during 1st and 2nd years on Heat Championship appearance… and Haslem also.. where is the defense on this Cavs team gonna come from?

If Cleaveland still don’t win wit their lineup, I’m going to believe that there really is such thing called CURSED ! Sorry it sounds pathetic to for a team to hoard superstars. I always love Clevelend, I hated the Heat then , now I hated the move Cleveland did, but of course this iis all james fault !

Upon seeing the title, I decided to skip the article and come here straight to the comments section because I knew that this was gonna be such a stupid story.
Making like NFL.com with its Manziel, Tebow nonsense. Can you write stories about things that sound less like a drama queen?
PLEEEZ!!!

if you take credit for the win, you should take credit for the loss… no one has ever played a perfect basketball game, no fouls, no TOs, no missed shot, no missed FTs, etc. until someone does that, the leader of the team should ALWAYS be the fall guy no matter what…

its on lebron…he forced the trade for love…actually the cavs are already good with wiggins and bennett…its all up to the coach…but the deal is good for everyone…wiggins would shine with the wolves…it depends all on flip.

So just because they got great players they are supposed to win? That is just disrespectful to the Spurs, and even the Cavs who have been pretty humble about their approach. They said they want to win a championship, but realize they will have to work for it…

Simply put, it’s Cleveland. WE, as a city, will be the fall guy. I’m 46 years old and have NOTHING, and I have come to the point where I expect nothing. I am firmly convinced that somewhere along the way we deeply offended a higher power and will pay the eternal price for it. I believe that you could put the 5 best players, in their prime, together in Cleveland and still not win the title. I believe the same for every sport in this town, it’s simply never going to happen. Fortunately all I do these days is read about sports. I stopped paying money for any of our 3 major sports franchises in the late 90’s, and roughly 95% of the time I don’t even bother to watch them. As fanatical as I was, with my own season tickets, ticket plans, and just walk up and go to a game, it’s come to the point now that my kids don’t even pay attention to sports in this town, which is sad in a way, considering I was brought up by parents who loved sports. That being said, yes, I will probably still jump on the bandwagon, then again, I’ve missed so many “big” games the last 15 years…maybe not. I never even saw LeBron play in person when he started his career here. I know, tl;dr

Man this is just poor journalism. Who’s gonna be the fall guy? They haven’t even suited up for training camp and you’re asking who’s gonna be the fall guy if they fail to win a championship? Jeez, i don’t know, maybe the player who isn’t playing up to expectations at the time. How about we actually see some events transpire before we start reaching into the future for possible controversy. I don’t even think they’re gonna be championship ready in their very first year but i feel it’s pretty foolish to even ask these kinds of questions regardless

the BULLS are a better crew than the cavs..they have played together as much as the new cavs, and the system of tibs is fit to any newbie who joins the bulls..the cavaliers will surely have struggles at first, with a new coach and two superstars with different style of play alongside LeBron..BULLS all the way

I think Lebrons so good now, he won’t get much blame if they were to lose in the finals (depending on who they face) people always talk about Lebron in a bad way (cramp game) but he’s been the one that’s beaten my teams and basically everyone else’s when they repeated. And for people who say “if they make the playoffs” 😑 or rank them as a lower seed, stop talking about basketball, your opinions are sickening. We’ve also got to see if Kyrie and Love can remain healthy in the Reg. Season and throughout the playoffs too.

But LJ could not get the ring in his first 7 years with Cavs. People keep forgetting that Championship is a work of organization from players to owners not just star players. Miami Heat is a championship organization but Cavs.

I don’t think that it’s gonna be somebody else’s fault why the Cavs would fail..everybody has to take the blame..LeBron would have to take his fair share of it (as well as other vets like Miller, Jones and Marion) if they forget or miss out on the fact that they have to lead a bunch of really good and athletic, but young players in the persona of Irving, Love and the rest of the crew…Love and Irving should also take the blame if they fail to play their game..meaning that they just have to listen and stick to the game plan and doing what they do best..

Basketball would always be a team game that they all have to contribute positive things into…negativity would always be the reason why a team fails or loses…perhaps in Cleveland’s case (since they’re considered to be title contenders), we should give them some credit if they make it to at least the Eastern Conference Finals..

James and the entirety of the Cavs, should all play their game with some little adjustment…if that happens, i think they have a really good chance of getting into the finals..if that moment comes, they clearly have done a good job..especially for a lot of first timers..

what happens when lebron loses the next two seasons, lequit on the cavs again. lebron was smart waiting 3weeks to make his decision knowing pat (G) riley would put a team to squash the hopes of lebron. Also dont forget how Dan Gilbert ripped lebron when he lost to the Mavs there are no short cuts to a championship but i guess he forgot hes taking short cuts now! Like Dan gilbert said to you cleveland, that the cavs would win a ship b4 miami/ lebron, (NOT). I know the heat will win b4 the sorry cavs or browns!

love is a very good player but is always injured, they don’t have a bench and james does not know how to play team ball. the west is so tough and the east is so weak, barring no one being badly hurt the spurs are still the best with the best coach.

This was a waste of time article, that asks one of the dumbest questions you can ask. Of course it’s lebron, he’ll be the reason they win and the reason if they lose. He’s the best in the nba right now so hell always take the blame or glory

I’m confused, what has Con Man Dan done to, as you say, have “done his part?” Worst majority owner in the NBA, bar none. There have been a lot of dudes from other lines of business that have purchased sports franchises and thought they knew it all, but this guy takes the cake.

Two comments:
1. The big difference between these two teams is the coach. Though an NBA first timer he is better than spoelstra.
2. Whatever goes down this season it’s LeBron’s fault. He is the best player and that means he has to take responsibility and it’s true wherever he plays and whoever he plays with

This article is based off a bunch of nonsense. Why does there have to be a “fall guy” in the first place? You can be the best team, and yet still lose. You can make no mistakes, and yet still lose. You can be the best player on Earth, and yet still lose.

I get it though, your job Sekou, is to start an interesting potential storyline. If the Cavs win big, then there’s obviously an epic story of LeBron’s return and all of this hype leading to that. Now, however, if they don’t win big, you have an epic storyline of failure and blame to tell.

Maybe wait to see who the fall guy is? If there even is one. If lebron averages 4 4 2 he should be fall guy. He shouldn’t be immune now. But if he does his job maybe it’s on someone else. Maybe the spurs/thunder just play really well. Hate the logic in this article

If the Cavs don’t win a championship and even they don’t make the finals then there definitely should NOT be a fall guy. No one should take the blame. It’s only their first year with this roster and the first year for their coach. Chemistry takes time to develop. Also, Irving & Love have yet to reach the playoffs so they need some playoff experience to get extra conditioning for the post season (physical & mental). Miami’s big 3 didn’t win it all their first year together. The only exception is Boston’s big 3 and in the end they still only managed to walk away with 1 championship. I’m very surprised Sekou wrote this article.

I predict that the Caveliers will fall in the playoffs due to Irving having poor games in their series. I also don’t see K Love hitting clutch shots in the 4th Q at this stage of his career. Well see if they can prove me wrong.

This is not going to be the 2010-11 season. These guys will figure it out. They have LeBron, who’s a natural leader, Love who played his best games versus the elite talent in the whole league, and Irving(Not DJ, LOL) who outside of Rose can’t be stopped. His ball handling skills is elite and you are going to have to stick him off the ball also. The rest of the team knows what’s at stack and just like the Bulls did in the 95-96 season when they brought in Ron Harper and Dennis Rodman who where veterans, put it together ’cause they came together as a TEAM. Did I mention the coach, his resume speaks for itself. The Cavaliers will be just fine, ONE GAME AT A TIME.

Even though he is the best player in the planet, Lebron THE KING James still flops like a baby. But falling and taking the fall for the rest of his team wont give him his 3rd championship, he must join forces with- err nevermind

The worst move lebron made was forcing Cleveland to get rid of Wiggins for Love. It made the move seem far from genuine and if they don’t get at least one ring it will be solely on LBJ back. Tho most ‘Cav Fans’ will blame everyone but him. Might as well get the popcorn ready its gonna be a fun season.

“Even with the San Antonio Spurs shredding the Heat in The Finals this year, LeBron (cramps aside) was basically unstoppable. It was his supporting cast, both Wade and Bosh in particular, who didn’t play up to their own lofty standards.” Ask Lebron if he was “unstoppable”! I bet he would say Kawhi Leonard put a pretty good chink in his armor. The next statement you make: “And the Spurs were so good, it might not have made a difference if Wade and Bosh played well or not.”, is the only one in the whole article that makes sense! Notice, how you said “…the Spurs…” and not “Tim Duncan”, or anyone else. This “Superstar” basketball hype is nonsense, and if Coach Blatt takes that approach it will be very difficult to ever win a championship. A team that plays TEAM basketball like the Spurs will always destroy the “superstars”. Such offenses completely wear down the physical and mental capacities of opposing teams as they attempt to stop the truly unstoppable type of offense coined long ago by Red Holzman as “Hit the Open Man”.

Oh and by the way Mr. Know-all, Tim Duncan is a superstar and your beloved spurs would have never won most of their chips without him no matter how much “TEAM” bball they play. He’s only the greatest power-forward of all time.

I understand deadlines must be met for journalist’s and the offseason can make interesting articles hard to bring consistently……but this really might be the dumbest thing I’ve skimmed on nba.com, ever.

the media is just trying to set them up for an epic fail, when in all actuality there is no way they will win the finals their first year. i bet they do not even make the finals this year. they just put them in this spot becuz of lebron. i guess the media forgot how out of gas he has looked. he cannot carry a team anymore and that was proven this past season. just becuz they got love doesnt make them finals contenders. they need a lot more. this is not going to be lebaby, bosh and wade running headstrong out of the gate. they did that for four years and and it cost all of them the rest of their youth. lebabay went here for one reason. to be around younger players that will carry him and have all the credit go to him.

One word “HATER”.why will the cavs not make the finals this year?im pretty sure the only eastern conference team that can compete this year are the bulls.and thats if they have a healthy rose and thats a big if.the cavs are gonna breeze threw the east.and okc will come out thw west and lose.because of (westbrook)trying to steal the spotlight.

Don’t be ridiculous, Sekou. I refuse to “forget the common sense logic” that it’s going to take some time for them all to gel. Besides, if the Cavs are a lock, why even watch this season? Isn’t the NBA supposed to be “where amazing happens”? Anything can happen. Anybody who says that “someone must take the blame” if the Cavs fall short of the title has been breathing LeBron’s butt exhaust a little too long.

What a horrible question! Give me a break, these guys haven’t played one game together yet, and the media is framing this thing already, obviously nba.com needs something to get people interested, but come on give this team some time to run. I wish them well.

everyone needs time to settle and i think by the first half of the season everyone will be well settled into david blatts coaching and will have a great chemistry by then on the floor. And speaking of spurs, they are not going to get to the finals.

and what makes you say that about the Spurs? in my opinion, despite being the ‘tougher’ conference’ the only threat to the Spurs making it back to the Finals is the Thunder (which they only made a couple of moves for the bench). it’s likely they can return back for a 3rd straight time.
the Cavs likely would make the Finals but I see the Bulls as a threat that could keep them from reaching there.

Sorry i agree the spurs will not make the finals this season.dont get me wrong i love the spurs they are a great team.but the west is to good and every team in the west is trying to knock them off.i see okc or the mavs out the west.nobodys paying attention thr mavs got strong this off-season

Just a little clue from history, albeit LA Lakers history. Pau Gasol was considered a playoff flop (no wins) until he got to LA and teamed with this scoring dude named Bryant. Then, he thrived. I think that Love will do the same and excel. Irving, to me, is the question mark, only because he’s been the sole focus of the Cavs for his (short) NBA career. Learning to focus on being a facilitator is easier said than done. Labron is going to be happy being at home, where his you-know-what don’t stink anymore. Then you have Varajao, Marion, and other players that have experience…they’re going to count more than anyone anticipates. It may take a year, but they’re still going to mow down opponents when they get it rolling. The key, of course, is becoming a team, and being more than hired guns. And, I think that’s the advantage that OKC and the Spurs have. No matter what, it should be interesting. Miami will not even be close to the same.

LeBron build this team, just like he built Miami. When the Spurs dismantle them again, it will be LeBron’s fault.

The East is soft and when they make it to the finals against a hardened Western Conference team that had to play a tough regular season and then survive 3 hard series in the West alone, let’s face it, whoever comes out of the East seems like an easy opponent.

Based on their record, the Heat would have been the 6th seed last season if they were in the West, and they would have been only a few games out from missing the playoffs entirely. But if the Heat had to play the majority of their games in the tougher Western Conference, they may have lost 3-4 more games and not made the playoffs at all.

I think there’s a chance of winning the title, but they aren’t the favorites and there is no reason to find the fall guy.
OKC also have three stars and are still looking for the first title after several seasons. No pressure to Cleveland this year.

LeBron will probably be the fall guy to an extent this time again. In his letter he spoke of mentoring the young guys and having to grow into a championship team but then he allows the organization to trade for another top 10 NBA talent, which immediately changes expectations. Furthermore he brought his former teammates Mike Miller and James Jones with him so it’s clear the team is structuring the roster in LeBron’s image (as they should). So even if he plays at another level this year (I don’t see it, I think the decline has started) he will be scapegoated because the team built its roster to appease him.

I live in cleveland i’ve been a cavs fan since I was born with that being said if i had to choose someone to put most of the blame on I would say its Lebron james because David blatt is a much better coach than eric spoelstra, and david blatt has done more over seas than spoelstra in his career in the united states. David is known as an offensive genius i dont know what spoelstra is known for. Blatt will figure out the best system to run for this group of players i think it will be up to them to execute it. Lebron put this team together its up to him to make sure the chemistry works and with all great players he will be the reason the cavs win or lose in any finals series

it was obvious in 2011 Finals that the script was to pull away that thropy and give it Cuban, do we see yet again the same script to neutralise all such legal moves from teams who acquire great FA players in the name of FAIR??..i should watch and observe this again this season,..see you!!

BS…theres no fall guy. Cavs can only improve this season. If they reach the playoffs and advance its a success. No one of the team/coaching staff/ownership expects an NBA Trophy right away. Everyone knows it will take a year to gel, get some playoff experience and play proper defense. EC Finals would be a big success. And then they’ll take it from there. Media/fans love putting pressure on LeBron, Love and the team, but apart from not reaching the playoffs, they actually can’t fail this season…

When they fail to win a title, the fall guy (people) should be the Cavs’ management. not for nothing, they would have been better off with keeping Andrew Wiggins. He’s a freakish athlete that can rebound and defend. A perfect #3 to play alongside LBJ and Irving. not sure they needed a guy to come that scores and rebounds, but doesn’t defend. the Cavs are not going to beat the West without defending. Wiggins would have developed into a lock down perimeter/wing defender come playoff time, and that’s what the Cavs really need to win a chip: http://straighthoops.com/whats_love_got_to_do_with_it.html